Tanks of Sweden

[2] Sweden ordered forty-eight tankettes in 1937 as the Stridsvagn m/37 (Strv m/37) after a successful demonstration during winter conditions in the Krkonoše Mountains.

They were to be assembled in Oskarshamn with a more powerful 4.39 litres (268 cu in), water-cooled, six-cylinder, 85 horsepower (63 kW) Volvo FC-CKD gasoline engine and armor, up to 15 millimetres (0.59 in) thick, from Avesta, although ČKD supplied most of the other components after building one prototype.

Its turret mounted two Swedish 8 mm (0.31 in) Ksp m/36 strv machine guns and sported a small observation cupola on its top.

[3][4] On 1 September 1939, at the outbreak of war, Sweden relied on a numerous army through conscription and the use of a Total Defence policy.

When the war broke out in 1939, Sweden had one armoured division consisting of merely 13 light tanks, only 3 of which were considered to be modern (the remaining 10 had been in service since the 1920s).

As a neutral nation in World War II, Sweden did not engage in combat; thus its tanks have no battlefield record.

The turret of the strv 74 was completely new, with a 75 mm high-velocity gun based on an old anti-aircraft gun, engines and transmission were modified or changed from the strv m/42, broader tracks and a separate electrical engine for the turret rotation was introduced while retaining the manual control as a backup.

[5] It is known for its unconventional design: it is turretless with a fixed gun traversed by engaging the tracks and elevated by adjusting the hull suspension.